ROCK ’N’ ROLL ALL OVER THE WORLD

Rock ’n’ Roll event changes marathon, for better or worse

The marathon, in legend: 2,500 years ago, a lone runner staggers into Athens, gasps out news of the Greek victory at Marathon, collapses and dies.

The marathon, in the Olympics: A handful of superhuman specimens compete in an excruciating battle of endurance.

The marathon, in San Diego: A sea of humanity — all ages and every conceivable physique — boogies for 26.2 miles, running to live music.

The San Diego Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon, which will have its 15th running today, is more than a race. It’s a revolution, transforming what had been an event for an athletic elite into a long-distance party for the masses. While you can find some world-class runners on this course, most of the 30,000-plus participants move to a different, less-competitive beat.

“It was the first event where you had no incentive to finish fast,” said John “The Penguin” Bingham, a veteran runner and journalist. “There were bands every mile, there were cheerleaders every mile, it was like a 26.2-mile block party. The idea that the clock was ticking was somehow not relevant at all.”

This reflects the race’s laid-back Southern California roots. But San Diego’s Competitor Group, the event’s parent company, runs dozens of Rock ’n’ Roll Marathons across the country — and, this April, held its first European races in Madrid and Edinburgh. Montreal and Lisbon will follow this September, Dublin in 2013, and Competitor is considering expanding into Asia and Latin America.

While the Rock ’n’ Roll has a few critics and endured a financial scandal in 2009, some insist it is destined to conquer the world of distance running.

“I have seen the future of our sport,” said Ryan Lamppa, media director for the nonprofit Running USA, “and this is it.”

Growing concern

Through most of the 20th century, marathoners were serious athletes who trained hard and expected to pound out 26.2 miles in under three hours. This rare breed focused on classic events — the Boston Marathon, say — where Porta-Potties and water stations were scarce. If they cramped or retched, hey, that’s distance running.

Really? Tim Murphy suspected the marathon could use an overhaul. Murphy was president of Elite Racing, a San Diego company that started the Carlsbad 5000 race in 1988 and the Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon in ’98.

“He had a vision,” said Bingham, the running journalist. “He thought there was a market out there for something other than running hard for hours and then puking your guts out at the finish.”

Tracy Sundlun, who was then Elite’s vice president, recalls that veteran marathoners scoffed. “They thought we were nuts,” he said.

But right out of the starting gate, this event was different. It was bigger: That inaugural race drew 20,000 entrants, then a record for a new marathon.

It was diverse: The initial field was 50 percent female.

And it dared to be fun. While some racers were intent on recording a good time, most participants were there to have a good time.

“They made the event fun and cool and hip,” said Running USA’s Lamppa.

The race’s atmosphere, while loose and local, appealed to other cities. Under Elite’s guidance, Rock ’n’ Roll popped up in Nashville, Phoenix, San Jose and Virginia Beach, Va.

In 2008, Elite and several other fitness companies were bought by a New York private equity company. The ever-expanding Rock ’n’ Roll empire is still based in San Diego, run by Competitor Group. This year, Competitor will organize 27 of these marathons in North America and three in Europe. Next year, there will be 28 in the U.S. and Canada, plus six across the Atlantic.

This is a steady moneymaker — or so say company executives, who declined to reveal current revenue and profit figures.

“We’re a growing concern,” said Sundlun, now Competitor’s senior vice president for events.

In February 2009, though, the race’s reputation was tarnished when the Union-Tribune reported that an affiliated charitable foundation had transferred public funds to the Rock ’n’ Roll’s for-profit arm. By October 2009, Competitor had repaid $344,176 to the city and county of San Diego.

The Rock ’n’ Roll can be an expensive proposition — this year’s entry fees topped out at $160. But fans note this experience is, if not priceless, unique. Here you’ll find racing Elvi in blue suede running shoes. Themed water stations, like the Jimmy Buffett “Parrothead” outpost on Morena Boulevard. And music all along the course and in a post-race concert starring headliners that have, over the years, run the gamut from Big Bad Voodoo Daddy to Pat Benatar, Chris Isaak to Sugar Ray.

The sport has changed for the better: “This race is not about competition,” said Bingham, who has run every San Diego Rock ’n’ Roll, “it’s about cooperation, completion and enjoying a healthy, active lifestyle — as opposed to ‘the loneliness of the long-distance runner’ and all that.”

Or has it been altered for the worse? “You see people walking the whole marathon, on cell phones, telling people back in Minnesota what mile marker they’re at,” said Kevin McCarey, a San Diegan who has coached marathon runners for 25 years. “It’s ridiculous.”

Not a race

McCarey, 57, likes running to the beat of electric guitars. He gets a kick out of costumed runners. But he argues that the Rock ’n’ Roll cheapens the marathon by attracting a host of poorly prepared rookies.

“For a lot of people, this is like a walk in the park,” he said. “How about putting a little effort into your training? Nobody wants to put in any effort anymore — they’re just going through the motions.”

Scott Dickey, Competitor’s CEO, notes that world-class runners still come to the Rock ’n’ Roll. “But this is not a race,” he said, “it’s a brand. It’s a brand that speaks to a huge phenomenon in global culture today — health and wellness, living a healthy lifestyle.”

Of those who registered for today’s event, 40 percent will be running their first marathon or half marathon, the latter a new addition to the Rock ’n’ Roll. Many first-timers have spent months training for this day. Last year, it took Evelyn Barnett 15 minutes to run a mile — and two miles was her limit.

Last month, the 21-year-old South Park resident ran 13.1 miles in two hours, 10 minutes.

Her goal: to complete today’s half marathon in less than two hours.

“People from all kinds of backgrounds are coming off the couch,” said Paul Greer, the San Diego Track Club and San Diego City College coach who trained Barnett and 630 others for this year’s Rock ’n’ Roll. “They are out there to finish the event, not out there to race the event.”

Despite the marathon’s daunting reputation and grisly origin, they are out there to have good, clean, healthy — can you believe it? — fun.